Crime & Punishment

Definitions

• Responsibility - duty to care for or have control over
• Duty - moral or legal obligation
• Conscience - sense of right and wrong
• Early release - a prisoner is let out of prison even though they haven't completed their sentence or pass for parole (reasons - overcrowding, terminally ill)
• Parole - prisoner realised early due to good behaviour and acceptance of guilt but are monitored to ensure they don't reoffend
• Life imprisonment - theoretical prison sentence that keeps the criminal in prison until they die (25-30 years)

Types of Crime

• . Against people = direct harm, e.g. rape, murder
• . Against property = damage or deprive people of their possessions, e.g. theft, arson
• . Against the state = potentially endanger everyone / disrupt running of society, e.g. terrorism
• . Against religion = breaks religious law, e.g. adultery

Law

• Civil law - deals with claims between individuals, e.g. divorce
• Criminal law - when state law has been broken
• Parliamentary laws - made by the government and apply to all
• Bye-laws - made by the council and apply to the local area
• . Non- indictable - less serious, doesn't involve prison sentence
• . Indictable - more serious, dealt with by judge and jury
• Why do people keep the law?
• against their conscience, don't want to be punished, duty to community, safeguarding

Causes of Crime

• . Environmental - poverty, unemployment, deprivation, inadequate lifestyle
• . Psychological - mental disorders, revenge, ignorance, greed, kleptomania (compulsion to steal)
• . Social - peer pressure, reputation, prove self, lack of education or parental guidance
• . Drugs - under the influence, to pay for habit

Religious view on the Law

• Christianity =
• . Ten Commandments show importance of rules and order
• . Forgiveness is important if the person repents (is sorry)
• . "Man reaps what he sows"
• . "Everyone should submit himself to the governing authorities"
• Islam =
• . Shari'ah Law (Qur'an, Sunnah, Muslim scholar census, new case law)
• . Believe in the importance of public humiliation to deter
• Both =
• . Use holy books, priests and conscience to decide right/wrong
• . Guided by duty and responsibility
• . Believe punishment for sins can wait until the afterlife (hell)

"No one should ever break the law"

• Agree -
• . Law is there for a reason (protect)
• . Everyone else has to obey, responsibility not to
• . Punishment
• Disagree -
• . If law is unjust or unfair (apartheid)
• . Could bring about greater good (war)
• . No other choice, desperate (poverty)
• . Self defence
• . Excusable circumstances (euthanasia)

Why do we punish people?

• . Deterrence - put others off
• . Vindication - teach people respect for the law
• . Reparation - give the chance to make right what they've done
• . Reformation - turn the criminal into better person
• . Retribution - to take revenge
• . Protection - keep the public safe

Religious views on aims of punishmen

• Christianity =
• . Reformation is the most important aim
• . Don't support retribution
• . "If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him"
• Islam =
• . Punishment should deter others (public humiliation)
• . The law must be respected (vindication) and victims must be satisfied (retribution)
• . "As to the thief ... cut off their hands; punishment by way of example"

Types of punishment

• . Community service - unpaid work that benefits community
• Reparation, Reformation
• . Probation - suspended sentence so reoffend and go straight to prison, have to meet weekly with officer
• Can continue job, support to reform
• Doesn't deprive of freedom
• . Fine - payment for crime
• . Tagging - wear an electronic device that records and restricts movement

Capital Punishment

• - legal process whereby a person is put to death by the state as punishment for a crime
• Amnesty International (Christian) World's biggest human rights organisation, campaigns against C.P.
• For =
• . Cheaper than life imprisonment
• . Old Testament teaches "An eye for an eye" which means death for death
• . Shows society's condemnation of crime
• . Deters potential murderers
• . An executed murderer cannot kill again
• Against =
• . Mistakes can be made, execute an innocent
• . Makes the murderer a martyr
• . Does not allow for forgiveness or reformation
• . Jesus forgave
• . Doesn't work, doesn't lower murder rates
• Christian views on C.P.
• . "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed"
• . "I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live"

Christian beliefs about prison:

• . Accept the need for prisons to deprive offenders of freedom to stop them continuing life of crime
• . Support the idea of reformation (involved in Prison Reform Trust, Elizabeth Fry)
• . Parable of sheep and goats
• . "Whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me"
• Prison Reform Trust
• Aim is to create more humane and effective penal system
• Argue current conditions don't allow for reformation

"Prison is the most effective punishment"

• Agree -
• . Criminals deserve to have freedom taken away
• . Acts as deterrent to others
• . Gives offenders chance to reform
• . Opportunities for forgiveness, education and rehabilitation
• Disagree -
• . Too expensive
• . Prison life too comfortable, criminals deserve worse
• . Overcrowded
• . Sentences too lenient
• . Some criminals need mental care, doesn't solve problem

Age of responsibility

• - age when child can be prosecuted for crime (UK = 10 years old)
• Children under 10 cannot be charged with committing a crime but can be given a curfew or child safety order. If they break the law regularly they could be taken into care or their parents could be held responsible.
• Children 10-17 can be arrested and taken to court if the commit s crime. They are dealt with by youth courts, given different sentences to adults and sent to secure centres for young people rather than prison.

Islam quotes:

• . "The woman and man guilty of adultery or fornication, flog each one of them"
• . "Life for life"
• . "If anyone is killed unjustly, we have granted the right of retribution to his heir"
• . "As to the thief ... cut off their hands; punishment by way of example"

Christian quotes:

• . "Man reaps what he sows"
• . "Everyone should submit himself to the governing authorities"
• . "If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him"
• . "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed"
• . "I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live"
• . "Whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me"